Jag Bhalla | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/profile/jag-bhalla
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The linguistic peacock-tails of lovehttp://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2010/feb/12/referenceandlanguages
The excesses of romantic language derive from the same evolutionary pressures that produces the bird's florid tail feathers<p>Love might be blind, but she's rarely deaf: language and love have always been intimately entangled. Indeed, some believe that love is one of the main reasons we have language at all. Essential though the language of love is, some of it is very odd and very funny. So funny that you could die laughing, or as the French would say, that you could &quot;bang your butt on the ground&quot; </p><p>Madly in love Colombians, for example, say they're &quot;swallowed like a postman's sock&quot;. In the English-speaking world, when we're besotted, we say we're head over heels – which is odd, since unless we're standing on our heads, that's the way we usually are. Similarly smitten Germans get a little more anatomically specific: they're &quot;neck over head,&quot; or &quot;in love until over both ears.&quot; While we sow wild oats, on the other hand, the French, perhaps thanks to their greater prowess, &quot;strike the 400 blows&quot;. But maybe this is because they believe that &quot;by candlelight a goat looks like a lady&quot;. This in turn is the equivalent of the Italian admonition not to choose &quot;a jewel, or a woman, or linen, by candlelight&quot;. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2010/feb/12/referenceandlanguages">Continue reading...</a>Reference and languagesCultureLanguageFri, 12 Feb 2010 15:32:23 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2010/feb/12/referenceandlanguagesJim Collins/APA peacock displays his feathers in Honolulu. Photograph: Jim Collins/APJim Collins/APA peacock displays his feathers in Honolulu Photograph: Jim Collins/APJag Bhalla2010-02-12T15:32:23ZThe idiotic joys of idiomshttp://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/aug/05/idiotic-joys-idioms
Idioms are not only great fun, they also cast fresh light on the less rational workings of the human mind<p>Why do we say &quot;I'm not pulling your leg&quot;? Or &quot;he kicked the bucket&quot;? I don't mean etymologically, I mean logically. Why do we use idioms? </p><p>I became fascinated by that question when I discovered that Russians say &quot;I'm not hanging noodles on your ears&quot; when they're not pulling your leg. To us that sounds ridiculous. But let's face it, our idioms don't have a leg (pulled or not) to stand on either. They're just as nonsensical. And they're not alone: </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/aug/05/idiotic-joys-idioms">Continue reading...</a>Reference and languagesBooksCultureWritten languageLanguageThu, 06 Aug 2009 10:38:49 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/aug/05/idiotic-joys-idiomsIllustration: Julia Suits/PRIllustration: Julia SuitsPR/Julia SuitsIdioms (Boil tea in your navel) Photograph: PR/Julia SuitsJag Bhalla2009-08-06T10:38:49Z